An Accountability Culture Engages Your Employees

Think about what a positive impact you can make on member service when everyone in your credit union is engaged and takes ownership of their results. A healthy culture, where people are accountable, means that people align personal work objectives and organizational goals. Management ensures that everyone has the knowledge and tools needed to make results happen. People know what’s expected of them and for what they are accountable. They are motivated to succeed, and leadership creates the learning environment and conditions for success. When mistakes or failures happen, as they inevitably do, people learn from them to improve and grow.

Leadership’s continuous focus on accountability is essential for business performance. Senior executives need to ensure that they themselves and their managers have the skills, knowledge and systems needed to make everyone stewards of accountability. However, in many organizations, leadership does not have the needed skills. CareerBuilder.com, an online resource for job opportunities and advice, recently reported that 58% of managers said they received no management training, let alone training on the skills needed for managing well-functioning systems around accountability.

Too many managers address accountability by requiring top-down procedures, where employees are mostly told what to do. Every good manager wants to run a tight ship, but a “command and control” approach to accountability is old school.  It alienates the workforce and is counterproductive. It creates an unhealthy environment that leaves people feeling undervalued and neglected. Instead of learning from mistakes, employees are pushed to hide mistakes. Instead of being coached to create more effective habits for achievement of results, they often hear criticism of work products and threats around deliverables. Such top-down systems are demotivating and do not provide a clear path for employee achievement.

Alternatively, in a healthy culture, managers learn and follow best practices for interacting effectively with employees and engaging them. Employee involvement is central to accountability. Managers and employees work together in setting goals, and defining and agreeing on objectives. As a result, employees take ownership of and are motivated to complete the objectives they helped establish. Working together in this way builds trust between the manager and the employee. This is particularly important as an HBR study recently reported that 54% of employees do not have a great deal of trust in their employers.

Accountability requires everyone to be very clear about their roles and responsibilities. Shockingly, Gallup found only about half of all employees know what is expected of them. SMART goal-setting (specific, measurable, achievable, results-oriented and time-bound) is a useful tool in creating an individual’s objectives. The defined goals align with, and flow from, the credit union’s values, mission and strategy. People clearly understand what is expected from them and how their work fits into the big picture. Knowing how and why personal objectives are important to the organization further increases the person’s motivation to succeed.

Systematic follow-up is essential. The manager and employee should engage in frequent conversations about progress toward their goals. Studies show that high-performing managers check in at least weekly and at times daily, if the situation demands it. Feedback takes the form of coaching for employee development and success. The manager focuses on the person’s strengths and what is working, and seeks to expand on that. When obstacles arise, the manager becomes a resource to help empower the employee to find solutions and determine actions that address the situation. Supervisors can use the individual’s objectives to help the person grow by giving them additional responsibility and stretching assignments associated with their goals. People want such attention paid to their development and prospects. Millennials, comprising almost 50% of the current workforce, rank personal development as their premiere workplace consideration. It is a key issue for other generations as well.

Celebrating successes and acknowledging employee achievement are powerful tools for advancing a culture of accountability. Skilled managers appreciate that through frequent and ongoing feedback, and in turn employees realize that they are valued. Consistency and frequency of recognition correlates with a myriad benefits – engagement and job satisfaction increases, productivity rises, employee desire for achievement advances and turnover declines. Recognition from the CEO or a senior leader is especially memorable and impactful for employees if this can happen.

In a culture of accountability, employees and managers understand that by working together they make results happen. People honor their commitments, keep their word and push through obstacles to get the job done. Moreover, every manager grasps that their success depends on the accomplishments of those they manage effectively, and inspire to grow and learn productively.

Stuart R. Levine is Chairman and CEO for Stuart Levine & Associates and EduLeader LLC. He can be reached at 516-465-0800 or slevine@stuartlevine.com.